01:03:56 · MC Lader, John Coogan
[01:03:56] S3: Yeah. [01:03:57] S0: And and there's clearly unique needs in all different industries. You're hiring a bunch of founders in each category. I think that's a brilliant strategy, very modern. But what will they be doing? Are you... Like, what is going to be replicated across Cognition versus siloed in a particular vertical? Is it product changes? Is marketing go to market? What what what what needs to live within a specific pod versus be shared across the entire organization these days? [01:04:26] S3: Yeah. So we'll start with go to market because there's a lot of just, like, showing up like you understand and know an industry. Right? And I think that's really important. Right? Yeah. So if we're kind of in this era of enterprise adoption where it's like the world's best university appeared next to your company, and you welcomed in all the interns, but you didn't, like, give them projects and, like, direction on what to do. Yeah. And so we're now showing up and saying, look. We... I want... You know, our our team in Cognition Industries show up and be like someone built a business in telco. They built a business in health care. [01:04:52] S0: Mhmm. [01:04:53] S3: They have a sense of what providers versus payers versus life sciences companies want and need, and we'll start to build out, starting with go to market, sales and marketing, and then really packaging the primitives of Devon to build industry specific products. But it's not a separate standalone Okay. Like conglomerate or [01:05:08] S0: something
01:05:08 · John Coogan, MC Lader, Jordi Hays
[01:05:08] S0: something [01:05:09] S3: We like are not competing. It is all, like, serving customers and helping them grow, not like building a separate Yeah. [01:05:15] S1: Sure some people shuddered and thought, I don't want Cognition in my industry. Can hear some of the customers. But yeah, I just feel like the biggest thing is like right now AI is exciting to most people, also very confusing to most people, especially outside of tech. And so if you don't have that vertical approach, any customer that you're speaking to is probably getting pitched like a million AI for XYZ industry, like verticalized products. The product itself might be inferior, but that person is leading and saying, this is this is, like, this is our focus. This is what we do. Right? And so I think it makes sense to have somebody that can Yeah. Lead that and actually speak the language and bring experience from the industry. Yeah. [01:05:58] S0: How does Yeah. How does... How how do you think about the long tail of industries versus, like, the ones that are going to drive power law results? I can imagine that finance technology enabled firms are huge buyers. The the long tail of, like, florists is probably, like, a smaller opportunity. But how deep do you wanna go down the the the long tail? [01:06:28] S3: Yeah. You're... It starts with businesses where software is central to the business. I haven't thought about florists yet, actually. There's a bunch that I... That we haven't prioritized yet, but florists had Omnition florists. Below the line list. I'm gonna confirm [01:06:38] S0: for florists.
01:06:38 · John Coogan, MC Lader, Jordi Hays, Brian Manning
[01:06:38] S0: for florists. [01:06:41] S3: Dog walkers, other niche businesses we could think about. [01:06:44] S1: I got the most niche one. Which one? Ski resorts. We need to secure our ski resorts this winter. I'm actually worried about cyber attacks on ski resorts. [01:06:52] S0: Yeah. You don't wanna be stuck on the Yeah. [01:06:55] S1: Bunch of people on a chairlift and gets taken down. I can't imagine the average ski resort is like that secure. Yeah. So that's the the most niche category that I that that that I can throw at you. [01:07:06] S3: There you go. But that even has a system that's probably operated by software. So there's... [01:07:11] S0: Oh, sure. Just go after this ass right now. [01:07:13] S1: I'm not joking. I'm not joking. Imagine the kind of software, like, the ski resort is running. Yeah. I guarantee you it's not like it it... They haven't... They're not staying on top of every little detail.... [01:07:24] S0: To the bottom of this. I wanna know who the biggest software vendor is in the ski industry because I imagine that there's a company that vends software to multiple ski resorts and there's probably some business that's been built there. And they might be a great customer even if it's not direct to the resort. I don't know. But I'm sure... [01:07:39] S1: But I'm thinking about like energy as like a massive Sure. I I don't know how how you're thinking about that as like a Yeah. As a category. But I mean, especially this week, everyone's worried about [01:07:49] S4: Yeah.
01:07:49 · Brian Manning, Jordi Hays, MC Lader, John Coogan
[01:07:49] S4: Yeah. [01:07:49] S1: The grid being taken down and Sure. And sort of that as an attack vector. And it just feels like there's so much code that needs to be written to, like, modernize even in that one category. [01:08:02] S3: Yeah. Totally. I mean, this week, just thinking about all the critical infrastructure and services that people rely on that have security exposure. So energy is a priority vertical. We're starting with 14, and it's basically the the 14. Yeah. So if you can think of that as the 14, like, largest industries in the global economy, but also where software is pretty central. So financial services, health care, energy, auto, travel. I I could go down the whole list. I won't give you the full 14. But I Flora, we [01:08:30] S0: we love this. I'm waiting with beta cat here. I I love this. Also [01:08:35] S1: Number sting Number 15. Will shock [01:08:38] S0: stings to be number 15. You almost made the cut, but here, Cognition's saying, look. You're gonna have to wait. [01:08:44] S3: Twenty twenty seven. [01:08:45] S1: You know? [01:08:46] S3: Okay. Patents are just getting faster and more powerful. So we'll get to florists and ski resorts soon enough. [01:08:51] S0: What what what is the ideal shape of of one of those teams? I mean, sounds like you're gonna be overseeing 14 teams pretty quickly. Do you have a two pizza team philosophy? Do you have a... You know, you want a a CEO type role, a leader in each of those industries, or is it, like, six generalists or maybe 60 generalists or 600? Like, how do you see the shape of each pod evolving?
01:09:17 · MC Lader, John Coogan
[01:09:17] S3: Yeah. Well, I'm starting with the with... Obviously, with the leaders, and I think that that will... It'll be a little bit dependent on the different industries. So for example, in some industries, like airlines is one example, there's... There are opportunities to build new software that different companies all use, but maybe wanna update, and you can think of an initial kind of, like, new product that could have much more of, an... A new application out of the gate. Yeah. Whereas, like, financial services, Cognition has a lot of existing customers, and that's, a lot more collaborative. And then, of course, different financial services need different things. So initially, I'm looking for people who, like I said, ship product and sold into an industry, are opinionated about what AI now makes possible Sure. And are excited to come do that with really the full force of Cognition. So we'll still work with the deployed engineering team that's that's already present existing Cognition cost... Cognition customers with sales, with marketing. We're using the whole force of the company to deliver for customers. So I... But pretty small teams within Cognition Industries and just, like, killer killer killer former founders and operators who have a perspective. [01:10:16] S0: You said former founders or acquires on the table? Are we gonna see some deal making? [01:10:21] S3: Uh-oh. Open to it. Open to it. Yeah. Do you have anybody in mind? Do you wanna let me know?
01:10:21 · MC Lader, John Coogan, Jordi Hays
[01:10:21] S3: Uh-oh. Open to it. Open to it. Yeah. Do you have anybody in mind? Do you wanna let me know? [01:10:26] S0: I don't know. Yeah. I mean, we we we we talked to some founders who... I mean, I can imagine someone who's built a product in a particular category but wasn't quite able to find product market fit and be the leader in that category wanting to partner up in a really in a really positive way. I don't know. It it seems like there will be talent that would fit this role very, very quickly. I don't know. What do you think, Jordy? [01:10:50] S1: Yeah. Makes... I mean, every category you you... You're going into, you're gonna be going up against, like, a a vertical player in that space. And I think a lot of them would much rather partner with you and Scott and, the rest of the team Yeah. Than go head to head for two decades. So... No. I agree. I agree. It's great pitch. [01:11:09] S0: It's a great [01:11:10] S1: It's a great pitch. Yeah. [01:11:11] S3: And that's part of what brought me here. I mean, I had a... I just sold a stablecoin company. I was thinking about what to build in AI and financial services. I've been building business in in fintech and financial services for a while. [01:11:21] S0: Yeah.